Wikipedia

Zephyr (1796 ship)

For other ships with the same name, see Zephyr (ship).

Zephyr was a vessel built at Hull in 1796. She initially traded with the Baltic, though for a year or so she was a London-based transport. From 1810 she made 27 voyages as a whaler in the northern whale fishery. She returned to mercantile trade and was last listed in 1853.

History
Great Britain
NameZephyr
Launched1796, Thorne, South Yorkshire[1]
FateLast listed in 1853
General characteristics
Tons burthen342 (bm)
Complement49 (1835)[2]
Armament
  • 1797: 6 × 4-pounder guns
  • 1800: 2 × 6-pounder + 4 × 4-pounder guns
  • 1810: 8 × 18-pounder carronades

Career edit

Zephyr first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in the volume for 1796.[3]

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1796 Jn.Ward T.Ward Hull–Petersburg LR
1799 J.Ward T.Ward Hull–Petersburg
London transport 		LR
1801 J.Ward
W.Brown 		T.Ward London transport
London–Petersburg 		LR

Zephyr was absent from the 1809 volume of Lloyd's Register. She reappeared in the 1810 volume with a new owner and new trade, that of a northern whaler.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1810 J.Bell Raines Hull–Greenland LR; good repair 1810

The data below is from Coltish,[4] augmented with press reports. On occasion, after the whaling season (April to September), Zephyr traded with the Baltic.

Year Master Where Whales Tuns whale oil
!810 Bell Greenland 12 130
1811 Bell Greenland 5 75
1812 Bell Greenland 20 155
1813 Bell Greenland 6 78
1814 Bell Greenland 18 167
1815 Bell Greenland 1 19

In 1815 Captain Unthank purchased Zephyr.[1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1815 J.Bell
J.Unthank 		Raines & Co. Hull–Greenland LR; good repair 1810, damages repaired 1814, & large repair 1815
Year Master Where Whales Tuns whale oil
1816 Bell Davis Strait 11 163
1817 Unthank Davis Strait 6 72
1818 Unthank Davis Strait 4 55
1819 Unthank Davis Strait 3 34
1820 Unthank Davis Strait 11 140
1821 Unthank Greenland 19 214
1822 Unthank Greenland 7 93
1823 Unthank Greenland 26 195
1824 Unthank Davis Strait 6 80
1825 Unthank Davis Strait 4 55
1826 Unthank Davis Strait 5 71
1827 Ash Davis Strait 12 210
1828 Ash Davis Strait 19 221
1829 Ash Davis Strait 14 146
1830 Ash Davis Strait 5 76

On 2 July 1830 the whaler William became trapped in ice at Davis Strait, leading her crew to abandon her and join other whaling vessels in the area. The crews of Zephyr and Traveller worked for 48 hours to clear her of ice. They then set fire to the upper part of William, lightening her and causing her to rise. When she rose to the point that the beams above the casks of blubber she had collected were exposed, they set fire to them too. When the casks appeared, the crews put out the fire. When William's master would not sign over her blubber and whale fins to the crews, Zephyr sailed away. Traveller took on 70 butts of blubber and one ton of whale fins. Captain Simpson took them back with him and sold them, keeping the proceeds for himself and his men. William's owners sued for the proceeds, but Simpson argued that it was a long-standing custom of the whaling trade that salvaged cargo belonged to the men who had salvaged it. The jury found for the plaintiffs, who had estimated the value of the lost whale products at £500, and awarded them £392.[5] Although all but one witness, all of whom were masters of whaling ships, testified for the defendant, the jury found for the plaintiff.[6]

Year Master Where Whales Tuns whale oil
1831 Ash Davis Strait 7 70
1832 Ash Davis Strait 29 231
1833 Ash Davis Strait 19 148
1834 Ash Davis Strait 16 168
1835 Ash Davis Strait 4 120 butts[a]
1836 Ash Davis Strait 0 0
1837 Ash Greenland 0 0

Zephyr was not listed in 1837, and the relevant page is missing from the volume for 1838. Zephyr reappeared in the volume for 1839. Lloyd's Register gave her owner as Stock & Co. John Unthank, Benjamin Stocks (merchant of Cottingham), and Thomas Shackles (oil merchant of Hull) were partners.[1]

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1839 T.Magens Stock & Co. Hull–America LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839; "wants repair"
1844 T.Magens
Brumell 		Stock & Co.
Gibson 		Hull–America
London collier 		LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839
1845 Brumell
W.Sadler 		Gibson London collier LR; small repair 1838, damages repaired 1839 & 1845

In 1845 her owners sold her to London owners and her homeport changed from Hull to London.[1] A few years later the London owners sold Zephyr to owners that sailed her between Stockton and Canada.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1850 A.Watt Faucus Stockton–Quebec LR; small repairs 1849 & large repairs 1850

Fate edit

Zephyr was last listed in the 1853 volume of Lloyd's Register, without a trade.

Notes edit

  1. ^ The four whales yielded 40 tons of train oil and two tons of "fins".[2]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d Laing (2003), p. 27.
  2. ^ a b "PORT OF HULL IMPORTS", 13 November 1835, Hull Packet, Issue: 2660.
  3. ^ LR (1796), "Z" supple. pages.
  4. ^ Coltish (c. 1842).
  5. ^ "Whale Fishery", Nautical Magazine (1833), pp.89−92.
  6. ^ Lubbock (1937), pp. 294–295.

References edit

  • Coltish, William (c. 1842). An account of the success of the ships at the Greenland and Davis Straits fisheries 1772-1842 inclusive.
  • Laing, George (2003). Starke, June (ed.). Baffin Fair: Experiences of George Laing, a Scottish Surgeon, in the Arctic Whaling Fleet 1830 and 1831. Hutton Press. ISBN 978-190270920-8.
  • Lubbock, Basil (1937). Arctic Whalers. Glasgow: Brown, Son & Ferguson.
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